Yutaro Oda and Kyosuke Tagawa injury progress as Hearts await the return of their Japanese forwards

Issues with both players are not major but have taken time to heal

Hearts are reporting progress with Yutaro Oda and Kyosuke Tagawa as the Japanese forwards strive to return from injury. Tagawa was due to resume training with the first-team squad at Riccarton today, whilst Oda should be back next month.

Tagawa has been nursing an ankle problem sustained in the 1-0 defeat by Motherwell on September 3. If he proves himself sufficiently fit over Thursday and Friday, he could be included in Saturday’s squad for the trip to Dingwall to face Ross County.

Oda has a hamstring issue which forced him off in the first half of Hearts’ 2-0 win against Aberdeen on September 16. He has an outside chance of returning in time for the Edinburgh derby against Hibs a week on Saturday. Failing that, he is expected to be back after October’s international break.

The Hearts head coach Steven Naismith confirmed to the Evening News on Thursday morning that both Japanese forwards are not too far away from returning to competitive action.

“Yutaro won’t be making the weekend,” said Naismith. “Kyosuke will be out on the pitch today taking the first steps back in training. We will need to see how that goes with a view to whether he will make the squad or not, but he is probably closer than Yutaro. None of them are severe injuries. They are just issues where recovery time can differ.”

Hearts travel on north following Tuesday’s euphoric 2-1 Viaplay Cup quarter-final win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. A win over County could take them up to joint-fourth in the Premiership table.